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Thompson Says Conflicts Board Needs Overhaul

Mayor

Saying that he had “serious concerns” about the integrity of the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, William C. Thompson Jr., the leading Democratic candidate for mayor, urged on Tuesday that the board’s membership and guidelines be revamped.

Mr. Thompson, the city comptroller, cited a New York Times article on Monday in calling for reform of the five-person board, whose members have all been appointed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. Thompson’s probable opponent in November.

The article reported that a number of board members had close ties with city financing or with the mayor’s personal fortune, either through their jobs or through other boards on which they sit. And though such affiliations do not violate the law, watchdog groups say they can leave the impression that they are beholden to the deep pockets of Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire who is the city’s wealthiest person.

So, in an act of political piggy-backing, Mr. Thompson said Tuesday that board members should not be appointed solely by the mayor. Instead, he urged that two members be appointed by the City Council, another by the public advocate, and the two others by the mayor.

Mr. Thompson said that the board should have an independent budget, free from the potential for meddling from either the mayor’s office or the City Council. He also urged that the each member serve a maximum of two three-year terms, rather than the current two six-year terms, to “ensure new ideas, less entrenched interests and less potential for conflicts.”

“I think there are concerns that have been brought up,” Mr. Thompson said during a news conference at City Hall with Betsy Gotbaum, the public advocate. “You don’t need a smoking gun to be able to come back and say that there’s an issue.”

Such changes, Mr. Thompson acknowledged, can only be accomplished via a voter referendum — something that would not happen for at least another year. Still, he said that the changes were crucial to “send a strong message to the public that there is no favoritism.”

The Bloomberg campaign, as has been its habit, hit back fast and hard.

In particular, the campaign repeated its criticism of Mr. Thompson’s handling of the city’s pension funds, which, as mentioned in another Times article, have generally underperformed in relation to other comparable funds. Mr. Thompson has also collected more than $500,000 in campaign contributions from money managers, some of whom have given money to his campaigns.

Howard Wolfson, a Bloomberg campaign spokesman, said: “For two terms in office Bill Thompson took hundreds of thousands of dollars firms that did business with his office, and now he wants to talk about curbing conflicts of interest? Maybe he should start by returning all the money he took from firms that mismanaged the city’s pension funds.”

Even so, Mr. Thompson’s suggestions are resonating in some of the most unlikely quarters: the board itself. In an interview last month, one board member, Angela Mariana Freyre, said that she would not mind if the board’s membership came from different appointees.

“Why not?” she said. “‘There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s less about who gets to choose them than the qualifications of the candidates. You’ve got to choose people that have intelligence and integrity.”

Billionaireberg is the reason everyone is on this board. Some get money from the city and Billionaireberg charity for their pet projects. I bet they know who butters their bread and how to make sure it continues.

Ho-hum. And that’s the only comment from someone, the undersigned, who agrees with the viewpoint and who, more importantly, is very much opposed to any extension of the civicly disastrous Bloomberg mayoralty. I just wish Thompson would do or say something that could muster more than a ho-hum from those of us who plan to vote for him.

lets expand this and begin to look at all of the nonprofits that bloomberg funds in addition to the party organizations that he has paid off for their support.

as i recall, bloomberg gave lots of cash to the ny league of conservation voters for their support of the failed congestion pricing plan and then appointed its chairperson to the Water Board that went ahead and raised rates 40% in the past 3 years. if that is not pay to play i do not know what is. it is even uglier because this deal has hit middle class new yorkers in the pocket.

it is hypocritical for the mayor to advocate for campaign finance reform and pay to play legislation when he chooses to live by a different standard.

and someone please tell howie wolfson to come up with some new material, his shtick is getting more played out than the macarena.

The comments in 3, 4 and 5 are not ho-hum issues, but the Thompson people seem to be ineffective in bringing them into focus for campaign purposes.

One realizes that Thompson’s campaign is up against a multi-zillion dollar Bloomberg campaign operation that, in terms of working the New York media, outnumbers Thompson’s campaign about a thousand to one, just in numbers, and a billion to one in access and influence.

The Bloomberg operation is primed and ready for everything. One hopes that after the primary Thompson will come out with a strong, focused and forceful definition of his vision for the mayoralty and the city, and with an equally strong articulation, detaiing and condemnation of the vast range of wrongdoings that have taken place under Bloomberg. Not prosaic controller’s reports, but powerful and cogent presentations with force of political persuasion. Thus far there has not been the slightest sign of this from the Thompson campaign.

There’s not much time between primary day and election day. One wants to believe that Thompson has a winning plan in place for the final stages of the campaign, but one sees not the slightest evidence of it thus far. One finds oneself wanting to channel Casey Stengel’s voice to the Thompson campaign: Is there anybody here who knows how to play this game?

The objective is to win the mayoralty back, not cave in to Bloomberg’s billions like everyone else.

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